Midway – A Carrier (VG) Variant Scenario



Midway – A Carrier (VG) Historical Variant Scenario

v1.1 - Peter Phelps (peter_phelps@)

MAP

Treat all hexes except Ndeni (2814) as High Seas. 2814 is the ‘Midway’ hex and is considered to have an airbase on it. 2814 has Coastal Seas.

US DEPLOYMENT

TF16 – CV Enterprise (2F4F, 8SBD, 3TBD), Hornet (3F4F, 9SBD, 4TBD); CA Minneapolis, New Orleans, Pensacola, Northampton, Vincennes; CL Atlanta; 12DD

TF17 – CV Yorktown; CA Astoria, Portland (4F4F, 4SBD, 3TBD); 6DD

Both TF start within 2 hexes of 2211

Note: CL Atlanta was present at the battle, hence available. And before you complain about the values allocated, see Footnotes on Plane Strengths/Number of Destroyers.

If you want to purchase your own fleet, it equates to 35 surface points.

Midway – 1F4F, 3SBD, 2TBD, 1TBF, 2MedB. No fuel limit. AAA = 5. Hit Capacity = 10 (Use blue air counters for TBD/TBF, but can land on Midway only).

IJN FORCES AND OBJECTIVES

There are 20 combat and 6 transport forces in play. Shokaku, Zuikaku and Shoho are NOT available. Hiyo and Junyo ARE both available.

IJN Commitment and Retirement Limits are 30/36/5/45.

SPECIAL RULES

1.The scenario begins with the 0520 turn of June 4, 1942.

2. Game Extension (24.0) and PBY Searches (26.2) rules must be used.

3. Strategic Surprise is automatically in effect.

4. The Yorktown commences the game with one Light hit already marked on it.

5. Each Transport sunk adds +1 to the Retirement Index.

6. One PBY chit is used, on the following table

|1 |2 |3 |4 |5 |6 |7 |8 |9 |10 | |Hex |1819 |2321 |2316 |2819 |2822 |2419 |2815 |3117 |2825 |3321 | |

7. Victory: Use Standard Game victory points schedule; of course, substitute “Midway” for “Henderson Field”. All bombardments of Midway count for VPs.

Japanese Strategic Movement

IJN TF on Hexrow 28XX, due East

IJN TF North of Hexrow 28XX roll 1D10; 1-5 East, 6-10 Southeast

IJN TF South of Hexrow 28XX roll 1D10; 1-5 East, 6-10 Northeast

Any TF within 8 hexes of Midway will steam directly towards it via the shortest possible route. If there is a choice of two hexes, determine hex at random.

Japanese Retirement Movement

IJN retirement movement is West; TF removed when it reaches a hex it the last two digits 30.

Japanese Force Arrival Table

Second Die

First Die |1 |2 |3 |4 |5 |6 |7 |8 |9 |10 |Trans | |1 |2121 |2320 |2519 |2720 |2030 |3028 |3429 |3027 |2717 |2616 |3126 | |2 |2120 |2319 |2518 |2719 |2029 |3027 |3428 |3026 |2617 |2516 |3125 | |3 |2119 |2318 |2517 |2718 |2028 |3026 |3427 |3025 |2516 |2617 |3124 | |4 |2118 |2317 |2516 |2717 |2027 |3025 |3425 |3428 |2416 |2618 |3123 | |5 |2117 |2316 |2515 |2716 |2026 |2927 |3328 |3427 |2417 |2517 |3026 | |6 |2221 |2420 |2620 |2820 |2130 |2926 |3327 |3426 |2517 |2417 |3025 | |7 |2220 |2419 |2619 |2819 |2129 |2925 |3326 |2027 |2618 |2317 |3024 | |8 |2219 |2418 |2618 |2818 |2128 |3127 |3528 |2026 |2518 |2418 |3226 | |9 |2218 |2417 |2617 |2817 |2127 |3126 |3527 |2127 |2418 |2518 |3225 | |10 |2217 |2416 |2616 |2617 |2126 |3125 |3526 |2126 |2419 |2619 |3224 | |

FOOTNOTE ON CARRIER PLANE STRENGTHS:

The Carrier Rule Book say that each step represents approximately 4 US aircraft and each air point represents approximately 8 IJN aircraft. If you add up the Japanese Air Values for the Akagi (11), Kaga (11), Hiryu (9) and Soryu (9) you get a total of 40. Multiply 40 x 8 = approximately 320.

But we know that the strike against Midway contained only 108 aircraft (including Zeros) and that Adm. Nagumo kept half his planes in reserve. So that means the total IJN air capacity was probably not much more than 215. Rather than play around with the numbers (including launch/service/raise/lower limits), I have just short-changed the US player. However, this may make the game impossible to win, so you can proportionally increase the number of US steps to compensate for the discrepancy.

For example, Yorktown had 12 TBD aircraft. In the normal game, that would = 3 TBD steps. For this game 3 x 1.5 = 4.5 (rounded down to 4 steps).

If you want to go with this easier option, then allocate Enterprise (3F4F, 12SBD, 5TBD); Hornet (4F4F, 13SBD, 6TBD); Yorktown (6F4F, 6SBD, 4TBD); Midway (2F4F, 5SBD, 3TBD, 1TBF, 3MedB).

FOOTNOTE ON NUMBER OF DESTROYERS:

Before everyone complains about the number of DDs I have allocated to each Task Force (historically, TF16 = 9DD and TF17 = 5DD) let me say that I prefer not to breach the 6DD per CV rule, but you are entirely free to do so.

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